Destroyer of Worlds?
by Aish94
Summary: Season 7 speculations. Can happen, but most probably won't. Octavia is lost. Jordan is almost a lost cause. Amidst the loss and fear of it all, Clarke and Bellamy navigate the dangerous mysteries of the anomaly.
1. Chapter 1

Chapter 1

"Please, don't do this", she said, backing away slowly.

"I have to. I'm really sorry though", Jordan Green nodded tearfully as he stepped forward, his fingers gripping tightly around the hilt of the knife.

She gave talking another shot, not that she felt she had any other means of stopping him, "Jordan, listen to me. You're not thinking straight".

"You're wrong", he spat through clenched teeth. "I'm the only one thinking straight. I'm the only one who can. Rest of you are twisted and gnarled, like a deformed animal". His anger now manifested squarely on his face. "My parents were wrong. You people CANNOT do better. We are the problem and you are the head of that problem".

This was when Clarke realised that she had backed herself into a corner, both literally and figuratively. Normally, she'd have had the presence of mind to have used Jordan's ranting moments to look for an escape. This time, however, she'd gotten unwillingly immersed in what he was saying, not sure if she totally disagreed with him, or at all. Then, there was Raven's unconscious body on the floor...

Jordan had silently walked into the control room where they were working on, and had almost succeeded at, collecting and re-trapping the scattered Sheidheda code from when it had dispersed across several computer systems across Sanctum. It hadn't taken long for Raven to figure out the scenario. Merely hours after their people had begun helping to put Sanctum back together, she'd pulled Clarke aside and shared her theory. Instantaneously, Clarke had told her to silently begin working on it. Which is why, she deemed it the worst of misfortunes, when, some 12 hours into Raven's hunt-and-purge, Clarke turned back from one of the monitors to see Jordan lowering Raven's slumped body on the floor, a hand wrapped around a syringe he had plunged into her neck. Then he placed her head carefully on the floor and the syringe on a nearby desk before reaching into his back pocket and taking out a knife. She, nonetheless, felt it in her best interest to keep talking.

"We did better this time", she repeated Bellamy's words, shaking her head slowly.

"You can tell yourself that. But we both know it's not true. Priya's dead". That caught Clarke by surprise; she'd expected his grief and reproach, had understood the reason behind his pain. But she'd expected it all to be for Delilah, not Priya. The revelation kicked in rapid thinking.

"Jordan, Priya was not one of the good guys. She is the reason why Delilah's dead. What is wrong with you", she regretted that last sentence as soon as it came out.

"What is wrong with me? You are the destroyer of worlds, the Commander of Death. My father always said that you were always trying to save everyone. But he was wrong, blinded by friendship. You and Bellamy, you guys only always try to save yourself and yours. The rest of the world can burn. But that is not the way to a good world. What it needs is a firm leader, who rules and not feels. Feelings are poison, love is weakness", Clarke saw a metallic glint in his gaze as it wavered to the screen behind her.

"And according to you, Sheidheda is that leader?", she asked knowingly, having a fairly good idea of what had happened to the shiny-eyed boy over the past few days and the more recent hours. It had to be one of the last bits of Sheid that had done the job that Russell's men had started.

.

"Jordan", she felt a wave of pity wash over her as his state began to become clearer by the moment, "you need to sit down and talk to me... or someone. You've got this all wrong and I daresay someone has been using that to his advantage", she took a couple of steps forward as he seemed to consider her words.

But he was done talking. Before she could react he lunged at her, plunging the knife deep in her abdomen and twisting it once. "It has to end", tears now spilled freely across his face as he withdrew the knife, stumbling backwards momentarily before running out of the room.

The world began to spin as Clarke tried to get up and reach the newly installed emergency siren. She found it exceedingly ironic that the siren aimed to warn off against potential threats from Sanctum was now needed to caution her friends against one of their own. She did not feel that she'd enough energy to make it as far as six paces, but make it she did. Summoning all her force, she pressed the red button before collapsing nearby. The last thing she registered was Raven cradling her head and pressurising her wound while yelling for Jackson. And then the world went dark.

Chapter


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

Bellamy was out of words. He was out of thoughts. It seemed as if this moon just couldn't stop playing with him. Over the course of some fifteen hours , he had searched the whole forest, more than once, had gotten a sore throat from yelling and calling out, but there was no sign of her; dead or alive. She had just vanished. His little sister, now beyond his reach.

He had contemplated stepping into the Anomaly but Echo and Gabriel had forcefully held him back and somewhere between a frantic argument, he felt something prick him in the back. Echo, he soon realised, had shot him with a tranquilliser dart to give him the (much needed) break which he wasn't otherwise going to take.

When he woke up, he wordlessly walked over to the girl who had stabbed O. She sat handcuffed on the floor beside a wobbly table. Looking angrily at her, he took a hold of her cuffed hands and made her stand up. Echo looked back from where she was crouching over a box. She shut it down and asked, "What are you doing?"

Without answering, Bellamy began to lead the girl outside. Echo and Gabriel exchanged a confusing look before following. "Bellamy, where are you going", Echo asked, catching up, Gabriel a few paces behind him. Neither, however, tried to stop him.

"We are taking her back to Sanctum. I need to find out where O is and we're not gonna do that here", he stopped and looked back at Gabriel once, giving him a disappointed look. "We need more minds on the case", he told Echo, resuming his walk.

"You can't get to her. I'm sorry", said the girl. Bellamy remembered Octavia having called her Hope.

A thousand biting responses came to him in that moment but he suppressed them. He had spent a good hour shouting at, and at times listening to this stranger. She did it for her mother, she'd said. Octavia knew it, she'd claimed. And yet, he'd wanted to kill her, make her feel the pain and fear that he knew his sister had experienced. He'd only stopped because Echo had made him see that this murderous woman may be their only way to get to O.

So now he dragged her to where his friends waited for them to start a new life, a life which would regretfully have to wait. Because first he had a lost sister to find. He felt a pang of remorse for having told O that she wasn't his responsibility anymore. He hadn't said it merely to make her feel bad. It was really what he had felt. She had understood it too. Therefore, he wasn't quite sure why he was feeling that stabbing pain of guilt in his heart that came from failing at one's responsibility.

He exhaled a short sigh as the Sanctum shield was lowered down to allow them entry. It wasn't a sigh of any great relief, but simply for the knowledge that soon they'd get working on the problem and, with any luck, get his sister back. He wondered in the back of his head why the shield was up again, now that the Children of Gabriel weren't a threat anymore. He soon got his answers. It was really the last straw.

"What the hell are you saying? How is it even possible", he asked in a voice that was part alarmed and part alarming.

"We aren't sure, but Raven's theory involves a double brainwash and a very careful timing", Murphy responded in his usual unaffected tone as he struggled to keep up with Bellamy 's long strides.

As they reached the end of a long hallway, Bellamy burst into the room, the door to which was thankfully open. Nonetheless, his act startled Jackson, who almost jumped away from the monitor he was studying. "Bellamy...", he began.

"How is she", he asked through a worried face and profoundly sad eyes.

"Don't worry, she's stable now", Jackson said reassuringly. "We're just waiting for her to wake up".

"Yeah, like I told you", added Murphy from behind Bellamy. "Jordan turned out to be quite an amateurish stabber". Bellamy glared at him once and he pursed his lips. Looking down at Clarke, he shook his head; _amateurish stabbers, lot of those going around these days_, he thought but did not say. Instead, he pulled a chair and sat next to her bed.

"Leave, Murphy", he said in a tired voice, not bothering to hide its tremors. Murphy merely sighed and complied.

He sat there for some time before Jackson cleared his throat, "I need to get some stuff".

"I'll be here", Bellamy told him, not taking his gaze off of Clarke.

"Does this ever end", he asked of Clarke's unconscious form after a while, getting unexpectantly startled when his question was answered.

"Possibly", said Raven from the doorway. He looked at her once and his neutral exterior dwindled. A couple of tears found an escape in the resulting tumult of emotions. "Everything ends", she continued, limping forward. "Someday", she then concluded, placing a comforting hand on his shoulder.

"But, Jordan... how could he", Bellamy struggled to form words.

"He isn't himself. That is what she said too", Raven looked at Clarke with a mixture of sadness and love. Her reaction was a momentary reprieve from pain for Bellamy who was relieved to see Raven move on from her reproachfulness for Clarke.

"She said that to you", he asked, more to distract himself than out of actual curiosity.

"No, she was saying it to Jordan when I was regaining consciousness. But he wouldn't listen. Had I been faster..."

He knew what she was feeling. He had been feeling it for just as long with regards to Octavia. Now he saw his own pain mirrored. At a loss for words, he took her hand and squeezed it reassuringly, "she's gonna be fine". He had made it into a fact now, knowing fully the perils of such a misassumption.

Raven looked like she was going to say something, but before she could, Clarke began to pant. Her breathing became ragged and she fidgeted frantically, still in a state of unconscious delirium.

"Clarke!", Bellamy moved to her side as Raven headed for the monitors, both trying to ascertain what was wrong with her. "What is it? Wake up", he added, insistently.

"Her heart rate is dangerously high. Brain is showing sign of elevated neural activity. Like there's an adrenaline rush", Raven rapidly spat out fact after fact. "It is as if she's running from some danger", she concluded, both of them looking wildly confused.

And then, it ended, just as suddenly as it had began. "What is happening", Bellamy gaped on in bewilderment. Then, a horrific thought struck him in the back of his skull, "is something wrong?", he whispered, looking at Raven with fear in his eyes.

"She's stable again", Raven doubtfully concluded, looking at the monitors as if they bore a secret cipher that she could not read.

"Are you sure?" he asked through furrowed brows, scanning Clarke over for more signs of distress.

"She is completely normal, as far as the monitors are concerned", confirmed Raven. They looked at each other, both unsure of what has just passed. For a minute they even considered the possibility that they had been hallucinating.

Which is also what Jackson proposed upon his return, once they'd recollected the incident to him and he had checked her vitals. But by that time they were sternly adamant on what they'd seen. "It happened, alright", Raven insisted for the second time in two minutes, on the verge of losing her patience.

Bellamy gestured for her to calm down from across the bed. "We know what we saw. And there's no red sun toxin here to induce the same hallucination in two people", he retook his seat beside Clarke and leaning forward slightly.

Jackson ran a hand through his hair, "I don't know guys, I don't see anything even remotely alarming", they looked at him, neither moving to speak. "As per these readings, she is just sleeping. Not even a comatose kind of state, it is just regular sleep", he insisted.

"We know it is the case now", Raven agreed, looking at the monitors.

"Well, we are just gonna have to see what happens next", concluded Jackson. And so they did, for hours to come, people coming and going frequently, before Raven, giving up the fear of further mishaps, suggested to Bellamy that he use the time to fill everyone in on Octavia's story as Clarke actually seemed to be catching up on some long overdue sleep,

Although he had reservations about the idea, he finally agreed to hold a meeting in the next room, leaving a call bell near her hand and a knife on her bedside table.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

She woke up with a start. 130 odd years and countless one of these frightful awakenings later, she was thoroughly sick of the sensation that came along; like she was drowning in a sea of her own blood. Then she remembered the events, as they'd taken place; Jordan stabbing her, then running away, Raven rushing to help her and then... Octavia. And Diyoza.

No, that couldn't be right. Octavia and Diyoza weren't here. No, They were in that bunker on the other side. The other side? What other side? She did not know of any other side to this absurd moon and yet she knew it. Moreover, she knew what she had to do.

In that moment there were things that she knew and those that she didn't and the sets continuously collided with each other. Pushing away the panic and confusion that threatened to choke her brain, she took a deep breath and tried to focus solely on what she knew.

She knew where they were (in a bunker on the other side) and how to get to them (simply by crossing over). And she knew that the matter was possibly time-sensitive (Octavia had told her to hurry, but that could simply have been due to the Reapers chasing her). The reapers? What she did not further know was how exactly was she capable of doing the things she had seen herself do in the dream. Or was it a vision? A premonition of sorts?

Nonetheless, she hurriedly got out of bed and a call-bell fell on the ground. One of her friends must've left it. She wondered if she should share her discoveries with them but common sense told her that it was all too unbelievable. There was no way she could explain all this to them; after all she'd failed at explaining it to herself. And yet she believed those visions to be truths beyond fever dreams and nightmares. She knew it as surely as she knew her own name. She could not risk people trying to stop her and so she could not risk telling them.

As she placed the bell on the bedside table, she saw and picked up a knife that had to have been left there by one of her friends. She could see Bellamy doing something like that as a last ditch effort to reassure, not her, but himself. But then she wondered if Octavia was lost on some other side of the temporal fabric, then Bellamy wouldn't be here. He had to be wandering around losing his mind. All the more reason to hurry.

She grabbed her jacket from the hook behind the door and pocketed the knife before slowly cracking the door open to check if she had a clear exit.

Having snuck out of camp without any unusual activity, she walked over to where a guard stood in front of the shield control panel. "Hey, lower it", she said to him.

"Name", asked the guard mechanically.

"Clarke Griffin", she answered, equally monotonous.

"Aren't you the one who got stabbed?", he asked curiosity.

"Yes. And now I need to go grab some medical supplies from research facility no. 11. So, quit tiring an injured person and bring down the shield", she lied without batting a single eyelash.

"Shouldn't someone else be going with you, Wanheda?", the guard asked, though starting to turn towards the panel.

_Wonkru guy, that's good_, she thought. Then, she responded with her old, grounder tone of authority, "I do my own legwork", and it was enough for the guard. He lowered the shield and she walked out of it, heading straight to her known-unknown destination.

...

She came at a standstill at the place where she'd heard the anomaly previously was. Now it was gone. She still knew that she had the right place, just like she knew everything else related to this matter, on instinct. _It must've disappeared around the same time as Octavia_, she concluded.

Technically, she was aware of its new location too. But she couldn't go that far; not while her body was in stitches and definitely not on foot. So, she decided on following the first of the dreams scene for scene, filling the gaps with her newfound instinctual knowledge.

Taking out the little knife from the med room, she cut a deep line across her right palm. Then, crouching down on the damp forest floor, she squeezed her black blood in a long but thin line between two trees. Getting up, she tightly wrapped a thick cloth on the wound, hoping to avoid infection and inflammation. Once the bandage was secured in its place, she got up and closed her eyes, squeezed them shut rather, and called out to the anomaly. Not with words but with her mind. Picking up a stray balk from the ground, she drew on the mud, her eyes remaining shut. Her hands moved automatically in the form of a fibonacci spiral and a humming noise began to emerge gradually in her vicinity.

When she opened her eyes, a green, gleaming ball of light stood in front of her with a her-sized hole in its center. Throwing the stick on the ground, she fearlessly stepped in. She had a fairly good idea of what would happen.

...

She wasn't prepared for this, she couldn't have known this.

"Clarke, hurry", Octavia yelled from some paces ahead of her, just as she had in the dream. And the reapers chasing them were a check on the list too. What she couldn't wrap her mind around was the guy who'd set them on their trail. Cage Wallace.

But, he was supposed to be dead, long dead. Lincoln had told them that he'd seen to Cage. Then how was he here, all the way from another galaxy and another dimension. She chalked the matter up for the moment.

_I have to do it now_, she told herself, as they reached a clearing outside the bunker. "Through here", she led them into a forested area. "They'll have to go back for hazmats", she concluded, when she realised that they weren't being followed.

"Yes, but they will be back. They have enhanced tech now. Can stay out for longer hours", Octavia informed between ragged breaths.

"We've had a good fill of thwarted escape attempts between the two us", Diyoza added in her usual part humorous, part serious tone.

"Besides, there is nowhere to go. Not like there's a portal anymore", said Octavia.

"Then why'd you come along? Just impulse", asked Clarke, looking fixedly at her.

"I thought you had a plan or something ", Octavia looked almost offended. "Now,

I see that I was wrong", she said glumly.

Clarke shook her head disapprovingly, "Always so quick to judge". Then she took out the knife.

"What are you doing?", Diyoza asked warily.

"Just watch my back, ok?", said Clarke, before starting a rerun of the process that had got her here. Octavia and Diyoza would occasionally interrupt her with concerned noises and warnings, but soon their voices became a distant sound until all that was left was the call of the anomaly. They seemed to be catching up too because when the blue door presented itself to her, they did not cross-question her when she instructed, "Step through it quickly". (Their ready compliance however, could also have stemmed from the fact that the reapers were out again, and rapidly narrowing in on them).

Clarke had expected to land on her feet, like she had on her way in. This time, however, they fell from a slight elevation. Nonetheless, Clarke hastily got up and closed the green side of the portal door, like she had the first time. She knew without telling that these doors weren't supposed to be left open. Even if she didn't, there was the threat of the following reapers which made closing the portal of paramount importance.

And then, she fell facedown on the floor. "Clarke", Octavia rushed to her. "Are you ok.", she asked with alarm and worry, taking hold of her almost limp body.

"I don't really know", Clarke replied frankly, letting Octavia turn her on her back. Then, she heard a rustling in the woods. A girl soon emerged from behind a broad tree, hands raised in the air to indicate her pacifism.

"Who are you", Diyoza asked the girl, who had stopped in her tracks on seeing the gun she had picked up from the reapers. The girl obviously did not know that it was empty and Diyoza wasn't gonna pass on a perfect bluff.

"I... I came to help", Clarke heard the girl stammer the words out as a nauseous dizziness started to enfold her.

"How do you even know we need help", Diyoza asked next while Octavia ran a soothing hand across Clarke's forehead.

"I've been tracking it forever", she offered by means of explanation.

"Me?", Clarke asked with the last of her grip on her self-control slipping away.

"Oh, no, not you", the girl hurriedly assured, quickly checking herself. Then, in a slightly less certain tone, she said, "Well, now you, yeah". Clarke couldn't make sense of her words. Nor did she get much of a chance to, for in the next moment, she found herself lunging from a place too high to be comfortable. And there was nothing there.

The last thing she heard was the new girl, "Please, we need to get her on less volatile ground".


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

The meeting had lasted longer than he had expected. A brainstorming session had commenced soon after the waning of the first wave of shock at Bellamy's revelation but it had been mostly unproductive. The only thing that everyone could agree on was that the anomaly, that strange bundle of green light that haunted this moon, had to be involved in some way. As everyone began to disperse, Bellamy had pulled Jackson aside to ask him of O's chances, but the polite medic had failed to offer much more than mere platitudes of wishing for the best.

So, now he headed back to Clarke's room, hoping to find her awake. She was, after all, the one person who could always come up with strangely absurd yet workable ideas, even in the most distressing of situations. Expectedly then, he was hit by yet another wave of panic when he walked in and found only an empty bed.

Having scanned the entirety of the camp pretending to be calmly looking around at the ongoing refurbishments, he was on his way out when he saw a guard heading inside.

"Hey", he called out and the guard turned to him, "what duty are you on?"

"Just got off my shift at the shield controls", the guard answered inanimately.

"Happen to see Clarke Griffin?", he asked, as normally as he could.

"Wanheda? Yes, she went out... About an hour ago or so", answered the guard. Bellamy flinched a little; it had been a while since he had heard her called Wanheda and it still made him uneasy to hear her thus dehumanised.

"She say where she was heading ", he demanded, starting to feel quite annoyed at Clarke.

"Yeah, to get meds or something. Research facility no. 11". Bellamy knew that was a lie; they had all the meds that they could need and even if they didn't, research facility no. 11 wasn't the place to get them. What it was, however, was the outermost location on the Sanctum map - the nearest to the anomaly.

He would have thanked the guard but he had walked away sometimes during his revery. So, Bellamy resumed his march out of Sanctum, now thoroughly confused and irritated. Try however hard he may, he just couldn't figure out what madness would propel Clarke to simply get up and walk off in the middle of the day, with a fresh stab wound on her.

So, in the middle of such alien confusion, he had to stop abruptly in his tracks and blink rapidly when he spotted Octavia in his line of sight. He was on the verge of finally buying into Jackson's hallucination theory when she spotted him back and ran forward towards him. It wasn't, however, till she collided into him, hugging him tightly, that he let himself believe that she was truly there.

"O?", he still sought confirmation, "You're back?", his voice cracked with emotion.

"Yes, big brother", she nodded into his shoulder, "I'm back and okay".

He sighed in relief. "But how?", he pushed her back in order to look at her. As his gaze fell to where Hope's knife had stabbed her, he saw that there was no blood, or even a cut, and he repeated in a lower voice, "how? And where did you go?"

She let out a short sigh, "It is a long story ". Then, pointing at her stomach, she added, "This one is particularly old, at least from my point of view...". Seeming to have noted his clueless expression, she backtracked a little and said, "For now, suffice to say, that I was somewhere far and unreachable. Clarke brought me back".

At those words, alertness struck him, and an old panic returned. "Clarke", he breathed, "where is she? She's in no shape to be going around doing...", he saw traces of humour on O's face and felt a healthy decline in his panic, and so only asked unsurely, "what is it that she is doing?"

"Saving people. Back on the job", O said with a tiny smile.

Bellamy though, being deep in the realm of the paranoid, found something off about that smile. "And how is she doing that", he asked dubiously.

"Its... its hard to explain, really", O frowned, at a loss for words while Bellamy stared enquiringly at her. "Fine, I'll try. Ask me questions", she suggested.

"I just did. How'd she bring you back?", Bellamy repeatedly, showing more patience than he felt.

"You wouldn't believe if I told you", O responded automatically.

"I've come to redefine 'believable' since meeting Clarke. So, hit me", he ordered.

"Well, apparently she can create temporal portals out of thin air", O blurted out.

Bellamy gaped on silently, his lips slightly parted. After a while, he asked, "I'm sorry, she can create what?"

"Told you. And that is the short version. Had I told you the longer version, you'd be checking for concussions on my head", she scoffed out.

"I'm tempted to do that now too", Bellamy responded drily. "Explain, please".

"Ok, but remember, I'm not great at elaborate explanations. Basically, what you need to know is that i was on one of the other sides of the anomaly. With Diyoza. And we were captured. Hell, we were scheduled for execution when Clarke waltzed in and in a matter of hours, helped us escape. And then she brought us back". Bellamy could do little more than staring open-mouthed as his sister threw piece after piece of heavy information at him. She must have sensed his feeling of incredulousness for she teasingly added, "This too is a short version, mind you".

"Oh shut up", he said with unmasked exasperation. "She was wounded. How could she..."

Octavia cut him off mid-sentence, "Wounded, right. That she still is. A couple of stitches got opened up amidst all the ruckus of the situation. But we fixed those".

"And you left her in that state? Where is she", he demanded, looking aptly displeased with the entire situation.

"Oh, don't worry", O quickly reassured. "I didn't leave her alone. Gabriel and Diyoza are looking after her".

"You left her with Gabriel and Diyoza?", he ran a hand through his hair in exasperated disbelief, as O looked at him with uncertainty. "With the guy who got us into this mess and the woman who is happy to kill anyone, anytime?"

O sighed, "What did we learn about turning the page, Bell", she cited Kane mock-chidingly. The words, although slightly stinging due to being a reminder of their shared loss, seemed to help Bellamy relax and she continued, "She's safe with them, I promise. Besides, Yama is there too. She won't let anyone hurt Clarke 'cause according to her, Clarke is the most powerful time-worker ever. The first of her kind".

"What kind", he asked, replacing his backpack on his shoulders.

"Humans. Clarke is the first living human being to channel time-worker properties. Before her only inanimate objects and dead creatures had displayed such properties. It is a big deal, as per Yama. The woman can't seem to get over it".

By the time she finished talking, Bellamy was shaking his head. "You know what? this is too much", O may have mumbled a 'told ya', but he didn't pause. "Take me to her. Talk more on the way", he instructed, turning Octavia in the direction of their exit. Then, as the two gained a coordinated pace, he asked with mild irritation, "And who the hell is this Yama".

O all but laughed at this, "Oho, you'll see. She's basically a scientist-sort-of-medic. A fugitive from both the anomaly as well as Sanctum".

"Wonderful", Bellamy mumbled under his breath while processing the facts. In that moment, a majority of his own thoughts became indiscernible. He still could not wrap his head around what O had told him about Clarke. She could create temporal portals? He did not even know what that entailed. And this fugitive girl? Another person for him to assess, keep an eye on. Yes, O had said she was a medic and scientist too, but he was primed to fixate on the fugitive part. Amidst all the chaos, the only feeling he could identify clearly was his relief on knowing that both Octavia and Clarke were safe for now. What came later would be dealt with... later.


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

Clarke had regained consciousness to a sensation of something rubbing at her stomach. Closely following on the heels of that sensation was pain, "Aah", she hissed sharply as she recollected the presence of her stab wound.

"Welcome back", it was Gabriel's voice. She tried to find out what was going on.

"Stay still. He just closed up your stitches", Diyoza came to stand next to her. Clarke marvelled at the irony of being once again held down by her. She must've frowned along the way, because Diyoza elaborated on the explanation, "they got opened up in all that portal business. Took forty minutes to close them properly".

The words sent a jolt of adrenaline through her system, "That really happened?", she asked in part disbelief.

"Yup, hard as it may be to believe. That happened and you made it happen", replied Diyoza while placing a hand on her shoulder to keep her in her place.

"If its any consolation, I find it hard to believe too", Gabriel said gruffly as he attentively worked on the stitches.

"That's 'cause you haven't seen it", came an unknown voice from the corner of the tent. "You must see it to believe it, really. And 'cause you're a Sanctumite", the speaker, a girl of medium height and curly, black hair stepped forward and Clarke assumed her to be the person from the forest.

"I'm not a Sanctumite", Gabriel said in a tired tone that would generally be accompanied by a rolling of the eyes.

"Well, you were", the girl said with a mellow distaste. Clearly she was not a Sanctum fan. Who she was though remained to be ascertained and that is what Clarke was about to ask when she began, "Well, hey Clarke! My name is Yama. Allow me to tell you that I'm glad to see that you're alright".

"Um, thanks?", Clarke said uncertainty.

"I've been studying time-work ever since I got here and never have I ever encountered something like you. You're the first living person to ever channel this ability, you know".

Clarke frowned slightly, "I don't know if that's a compliment or a warning". She heard Diyoza scoff.

"Oh, compliment, as far as I'm concerned. Do you know what all you can do?", she asked with wonder in her eyes.

Clarke relaxed and thought for a few seconds. Then she replied, "Actually, yeah. I woke up knowing quite a lot of stuff I hadn't known earlier".

Yama studied her. "Even that has gotta be a part of the whole", she all but whispered. Then, in a more business-like manner, she asked, "Any idea what started it"?

"It was a dream", Clarke said instantaneously, adding in a more thoughtful tone, "Of Octavia". Gabriel stopped in his tracks and Diyoza straightened up. "And then I knew. Though, how I can do this, I still don't know. Only that I can", she shrugged. Then, looking around herself, she asked them, "Where's Octavia? I did get her out didn't I?"

"Oh yes", Diyoza came closer, "You got both of us out. Thank you for that. She just went to look for Bellamy. But its been a while so she should be back anytime now".

"Right, he must be worried". Then, she saw the new girl staring at her. "Any theories on the how part?", she asked politely.

"Just one, half-cooked mess. Time-worker properties don't come built-in, you see. They get embedded in certain objects during temporal fluctuations. Sometimes during spatial ones too", she stopped and looked at Clarke to gage her reaction. Upon her nod, she continued, "Gabriel told me about your mind-drive misadventure, Also, that you clinically died momentarily..." At those words she stuttered and moved uncomfortably.

"And you think that that's when these properties got embedded in me?", Clarke completed the thought. Looking at Gabriel she asked, "What do you think?"

He looked at her for a short while. "I hate to agree here, but it does make sense", he answered reluctantly, going stubbornly silent afterwards.

"They got embedded in you when you died and got activated when you almost died again", Yama spelled out, "That is my theory".

"Wow, some theory", Clarke said plainly, shifting to sit up as soon as Gabriel moved back.

"Easy now, you wanna give those stitches some rest", Gabriel cautioned.

"With Clarke, that's not even a possibility", came Bellamy's voice from the tent entryway, Octavia right behind him. She looked at him and a sensation of relief washed over her. Even though she hadn't felt herself in any danger earlier, it was only now that she truly felt safe.

She shook her head, adding lightly, "not with that discouraging attitude, it isn't".

He simply walked over to her cot in the middle of the room and wrapped her in his embrace. After a few quite moments, he whispered softly, "I'm glad you're ok".

"I know", she replied, her voice even lower.

Drawing back from the hug, he settled himself in front of her and Clarke wondered if Raven and the others knew about her. She was just about to voice the question when Bellamy spoke. "So, what is this madness about portals?"

Over the course of the following hours, they filled him in, sharing both what they knew and what they guessed. By the latter half of the hour, they had begun treading lightly on the absurd-speculation territory and they might've gone deep in too.

Had there not been a huge explosion outside.


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6

Even as they were rushing outside, Bellamy knew in his gut that it wasn't a regular explosion of bombs and fire. It had to do something with the anomaly, everything these days did. Nonetheless, he helped Clarke up and watchfully followed her out, the others a few paces ahead of them.

"This can't be good", he heard O say, seconds before he himself spotted the said object of distress. A huge green fog, very much like the anomaly but slightly smaller, was convulsing frantically across the land in front of them.

"It _isn't_", the new girl, Yama confirmed emphatically, "it could only mean...", she abandoned the thought, turning instead towards Clarke, "Can you trace its origin?"

Clarke stared at her blankly, "how", but Yama merely shrugged.

Yama babbled on defensively, "Its not like I've ever done it with the objects I've used as time-workers, because they were, you, know, objects", her words sent a shiver down Bellamy's spine, "but if there's one thing I have seen over and over is that every temporal fold has a signature of its own. I was thinking , with you having cognitive ability and everything...", she faltered and shifted uncomfortably, which Bellamy assumed was the result of her having made eye contact with himself. After that, she merely shrugged and waited.

"Let's find out" Clarke finally announced and he would've asked her to hang on and talk this out but before he could, she'd slipped away; physically there but her consciousness seemed far away. After what felt like mere seconds, she gasped back to their reality and looked around wide-eyed.

"What is it?", Bellamy heard O voice out his own concern.

"It seems we made someone very mad", Clarke answered, looking from Octavia to Diyoza. Then, she looked at Yama, "your signature theory checks out. These were the same factors as when I was returning from... _there_. He's trying to get here". Octavia nodded all along, almost involuntarily.

"_Who_ is trying to get here?", Bellamy asked with unmasked irritation.

"Cage Wallace", Octavia and Clarke answered at the same time.

"What? What are you saying? He's dead!"

"Yeah, just not as much as we'd like", Clarke informed tentatively. "Apparently, his astral form lives. What's worse is that he's back to creating a reaper equivalent of soldiers there, right?", she added, looking at Yama. Bellamy gaped on in disbelief.

"Yes, mostly. However, it might reassure you to know that Cage himself cannot get out yet. Not in his astral form. And he does not have a medium to...", Yama abruptly dropped it. "What we need to figure out now is why he made this portal?"

"He a time-worker too?", asked Diyoza.

Yama scoffed in indignation, "Hell, no. He may simply have gotten lucky and found a catalyst object when Clarke closed the portal. Anyways let's find out...".

"We may not need to do anything for that", Gabriel interrupted and everyone followed his gaze. In their line of sight, they spotted a group of reapers running headlong towards the entrance of the portal.

"Clarke, close it", Yama instructed instantly. The next moment, Bellamy saw Clarke squeeze her eyes and... stand. She just stood there, her face contorting as if she was performing heavy labour but that was all. Then, she was gritting her teeth and her fingers moved stiffly.

"I can't", she grunted out and Bellamy moved to reach out but Yama stopped him.

"Yes, you can. Just a little harder. Come on", she told Clarke while fumbling for something in her backpack. Then, she took out some stray objects; a couple of tree balks, some rocks, a shell and a tattered book and dropped it all on the ground next to Clarke. Then, crouching down over the objects, she closed her eyes and seemingly mimicked Clarke. In a matter of moments, the portal was gone. A reaper managed to make it on their side in the last second but Diyoza put a bullet through his kneecaps before he could advance on them. It was later generally agreed that he be kept alive to find out Cage's game-plan.

Clarke stumbled back, losing her footing and Bellamy caught her on cue. "Clarke", he assessed her state with concern.

"It's okay. I'm alright. Bit dizzy but alright. Better than last time", she looked at O, who was now at her other side and the two shared a tiny smile. Then, she addressed Yama, "Why was that so much more harder to close than mine?"

Yama shrugged, "Because it wasn't yours. You weren't its creator and so the destruction wasn't yours to wreak". Clarke took that in wordlessly. Bellamy, however, had too many curiosities to let them go.

"I thought Clarke was the only living person with this ability", he asked of Yama, letting his distrust show on his face.

"She is. _I'm_ not a time-worker. At least, not yet. But I can use objects with those properties. I'm what you may call, tine-work compatible. If I die, my corpse will most likely be a bloody good catalyst. And that's common for everyone coming from my side of the anomaly. Test this reaper, if you want and even he'd be able to form a small keyhole if given a catalyst", she explained in one go, not pausing to incorporate questions from the group.

"This is absurd. All of this is just so...", Clarke began, on the very edge of losing her calm.

"Hey, easy now", Bellamy said soothingly, one hand consistently stroking her back, desperate to be of help.

"Yes, listen to your friend, please. Too much of anxiety and you may send the world spinning", Yama warned, coming to stand in front of them. Clarke merely gave her an enquiring look and so she elaborated, "Hey, You're the girl who summons and opens portals. And this is a moon that is constantly undergoing temporal shifts. What are the odds that there might be an off-timed reaction", she asked rhetorically.

"Summoning a portal requires blood", Clarke countered, while Diyoza and Gabriel gagged and blindfolded their new hostage.

"Yes, but opening one doesn't. And, as we've all seen, there's always something in the works here, isn't it?" Yama concluded.

"So, you're saying that she should what... go into a deep meditative state and remain there indefinitely", Bellamy demanded angrily.

"No", Yama looked at him with irritation, "all I'm suggesting is that she refrain from letting her emotions get out of hand. A wise thought under any circumstances". Then, she addressed Clarke in a calmer voice, "Look, you have a hell lot of power and it can be both good and bad. You're like Shiva with his third eye which must remain closed at all times. Other than that you can go around doing what you want".

Clarke sighed and relaxed some more. "Alright, question; who is Shiva and why does he have three eyes"?

Yama smiled, "What, no mythology in space?"

""Not that one", Bellamy was the one who answered, his anger somewhat subsided..

"Well, Shiva is the God of Destruction. He has three eyes: two regular ones and one here", she touched a finger on the center of her forehead. "When he loses his temper, the third eye opens and when the third eye opens, hells break loose until all the worlds in the universe collapse into nothingness. Shiva is the Destroyer of Worlds".

Clarke blinked rapidly as a silence unfolded everything around them, "And could I be that too?", Bellamy saw her as she summoned the courage to ask that and his heart twisted with pain.

Yama looked down once, "I don't think so. But..."

"No", Bellamy interrupted, "no, Clarke. You are not the Destroyer of Worlds. You are not Wanheda. You are Clarke Griffin and all you do is simply what must be done. And that is what we will continue to do for as long as we have to. With me?" He said those words, looking straight at her and when she gave a nod in response, he knew that he had gotten through to her and that was what mattered most.


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7

What they learned from interrogating the captured reaper was unsettling at least, a terrifying prospect at full impact. Clarke felt as if all the ghosts from her past were readying to march on her.

The reaper though was an easy defector. It took less than ten minutes alone with Diyoza for him to agree to cooperate. He informed that Cage was indeed working on a plan to cross over to this more material side of the temporal fold. When Yama asked how exactly did he intend to find a medium (as all the reaper bodies on the other side were dead people made temporarily animate), he laughed and told her that a medium was being arranged and would soon be in Cage's lab. He did not, however, know who this medium would be. And when he retained the same answer even after some blows to his chest, they decided that he was, most likely, not lying. And so, Diyoza put a bullet in his head and his corpse was burnt.

"How do you know so much about the other side?", Bellamy demanded of Yama as they waited for the pyre to burn out. The subtle hostility in his tone reminded Clarke of Pike's reign, a time which had made them, especially him, doubt everything and everyone. She nonetheless steadied her thoughts and looked to Yama for answers.

"Like I said, I'm from that other side. Keep up, yeah", Yama answered.

"That ought to make you one of those reaper people", Bellamy concluded.

Yama shook her head. "I'm not one of the reaper people", she smiled sadly. "I'm one of the astral people". A silence ensued and everyone traded confused looks. Yama let that sink in before continuing, "Cage Wallace is a rare coincidence. So am I. Results of interrupted or incomplete dying processes".

"And we are once again in the makes-no-sense territory", Octavia spoke, turning her gaze skywards in fatigue that was both mental as well as bodily. They all decided to head indoors and chart out the course ahead.

"Are you from earth too?", O asked as they all seated themselves in various places across the tent. Yama merely nodded. "Have we met?", she nodded again.

"You don't look at all familiar", declared Clarke.

"Well, this isn't my original body, Wanheda", she said with amusement. Bellamy winced.

"So, you murdered this girl to get her body", Gabriel guessed, exchanging a wary look with Clarke as he handed her a glass of water.

"Not exactly", Yama frowned. "I found her almost lifeless. Tried to revive her too. Only when nothing worked, did I take her body. I'm not like you _primes_", she looked at Gabriel pointedly, "I would never kill an innocent if I could spare it. Anyway, the girl was trapped. A person travelling without a catalyst is like a fly in a net. No getting back out".

"So, that's why no one ever comes back", Gabriel all but whispered. Yama nodded. "But what about Octavia? She came back once before. Without Clarke".

"Did she, now?", Yama asked with raised eyebrows. "Then, I guess we must find out how. But first, lets get rid of the homicidal narcissist, yeah?" she proposed authoritatively.

"Alright. But who exactly are you", Bellamy asked.

Yama responded with a crooked smile, "Maybe, when this is done, I will tell you". She did not give them a chance to insist, "I suggest we head to my lab. I'm almost out of my supply of catalyst and I doubt you have much power left in you either", she told Clarke.

"Your lab?", asked Gabriel.

"Research facility no. 15", she explained with a mischievous look on her face.

"That exploded early on in our process of habitation", Gabriel looked on sternly, confused and curious at once.

"Yes, it was in quite a rubble when I found it", agreed Yama. "Took me years to refurbish it, a computer from this facility, a camera from that", she looked quite smug.

"Unbelievable", mumbled Gabriel.

"Hey", Clarke addressed Gabriel, "Sanctum security? Not exactly the best" and they all let out a few, short laughs. Then, turning to Yama she asked more seriously, "Do you have a plan or what?"

"I know what must be done", she answered vaguely. As they all looked on at her, she carried on, "First, you guys need to find the medium. He seems to have found a target of sorts. Someone gullible. Would've to be coaxed within his range, you know?"

"A range?", asked Octavia.

"From where he can pull them inwards, or get them to step in, if that's a possibility. Lesser work for him", explained Yama as Clarke felt a sinking sensation near her stab wound. Yet again, someone she cared about could be in danger. "And you", Yama turned to face Clarke, "need to train".

"Train?", asked Bellamy. "I thought she had too much power already", he asked with a dab of his usual sarcasm.

"You understand correctly", Yama spoke with mock politeness. "It only make sense that she figure out how to best use _and_ control those powers", she held Bellamy's stare.

"Right", Clarke intervened, putting a stop to the trading of hostilities that had suddenly become very open. "That makes sense", she said. "I will come with you. Rest of you should head over to Sanctum and check for loose ends. Though its a long shot, it'd be better if we can stop the target from getting... well targeted. Ok?", she looked at everyone and no one.

"No, not ok", Bellamy frowned deeply, stepping in her line of sight, "You're insane if you think we're leaving you alone with her", she began to protest but he cut her off, "Besides, i think i have a shortlist for the candidacy of this medium person of hers".

"What do you mean?", Clarke asked.

"She said gullible and willing. I know someone like that", Bellamy said sadly, waiting for her to do the math herself.

"Jordan?" she soon concluded.

"He fled Sanctum. Raven initially believed that Sheidheda might have been double-brainwashing him but on asking around, she discovered that he hadn't even used any of the computers. He'd just walk around muttering to himself".

Clarke considered this new piece of information. "But how would Cage talk to him?" she spoke to herself in a contemplative tone.

Yama raised a hand demurely and Clarke turned her attention towards her, "Um, voice transmits across temporal folds", she informed. "In a state of mega-enhanced sensory reception... i bet one can hear these transmissions".

"Enhanced like under the influence of the Red Sun toxin", proposed Gabriel. Yama considered that for some time and then nodded solemnly.

"Jordan had quite a bit of that in his system. Probably was still on it when he stabbed me", Clarke's pragmatic voice gave way to concern as Bellamy sighed sorrowfully.

"Then we find Jordan and hold him down till he's okay", Bellamy announced firmly.

"So, this shortlist of yours was... just a piece of paper with Jordan's name on it", Clarke looked to Bellamy for confirmation and he silently nodded. Promptly,Octavia and Gabriel offered to scout the forests.

As they headed out into the wilderness, Diyoza turned to Bellamy and asked, "My daughter, Hope", it was the first time Clarke had seen her look somewhat sheepish.

"She's alright. Though, under guard supervision, in Sanctum", Clarke quickly realised that they weren't talking about a foetus anymore. She arched an eyebrow at Bellamy. "She stabbed O and made her vanish", he explained. Clarke swallowed the fifteen questions that rushed at her.

"Well then, I'll head back to Sanctum, see my daughter and fill everyone in", Diyoza declared, not waiting for permission. "Who should i bring along on my return trip?", she asked them nonchalantly.

"Jackson and Raven. They'd be indispensable in figuring out more of this temporal mess", Clarke answered instantly.

"Also, please make sure Raven is unarmed. She'll kill me for rushing out without telling her", he ran a hand over his neck. Then, he told Clarke in a lower tone, "she was very concerned about you".

Clarke nodded at him, ignoring the tiny lump that formed in her throat. She could not tell why an image of Abby flashed in front of her eyes in that moment. Shaking her head, she continued, "Tell Gaia and Miller to keep Madi put. She is not to leave Sanctum. Also, get Echo and Emori. They're both generally helpful. And Murphy".

"Murphy? why?" asked Bellamy. "He's not generally helpful these days".

"I have a theory", said Clarke. Turning to Yama, she elaborated, "You see, he too died once..."


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter 8

Clarke, Bellamy and Yama were almost out of range when their radio crackled. "Bel..."

"Is that Octavia", Clarke was the first to notice. Bellamy took the radio out of his back pocket and it crackled again, "Bel"...

"Lets head backwards", Bellamy prompted.

After a while, the voice became cleaner, "... Clarke, can 'anyone hear me".

"We can hear you", Bellamy replied, "what is it?", he waited for a response.

"Guys, I don't know if you can hear me", Bellamy prepared to speak again, but Clarke stopped him, knowing from her experience with Gabriel that this was, most likely, a one-way channel. Octavia spoke on, "If you can, we've found Jordan and you guys need to get here", there was then a moment of ominous silence before she continued, "there is a portal forming here. We're trying to restrain him but... we're some 400 meters southwest of the tent. Hurry". After that, the radio went silent again. Clarke and Bellamy had started moving as soon as Octavia had given the directions. Yama however, only caught up with them a bit later.

"I don't think you can stop it", she said to Clarke.

"Him", Clarke corrected angrily.

"No, it. I'm talking about the portal", Yama clarified, "we're going to reach to find it open".

"Then I'll close it", Clarke said while keeping her face neutral as she felt two pairs of eyes assessing her closely. She dared not let them sense the emptiness she was beginning to feel within.

"Do you think you can", Yama asked sheepishly. It was one of those rare occasions when Clarke would've welcomed a hostile retaliation from Bellamy. This was the only time that it did not come. He seemingly awaited her answer too. She was only glad that neither of them stopped.

"I can try", was all she said. Then, she squared her shoulders and walked on ahead, not giving either of them a chance to follow up on the matter.

...

They did reach to find an almost open portal. In addition to that they found their friends, Gabriel lay unconscious on the ground as a result of a head wound, while Octavia struggled to retain her grip on Jordan. Before they could intervene, Jordan shoved her hard. Already on the edge of a cliff, she lost her balance and fell backwards. Fortunately, she managed to grip the edge of the cliff and they rushed over to help. "O, hold on", Bellamy instructed as he took her hand while Yama grabbed Jordan, allowing Clarke to tie him up. Then, multiple things happened at once.

Bellamy pulled Octavia up and they moved away a little from the edge. The portal opened wide open, almost behind them. And Jordan kicked at Yama and slashed his fist into Clarke's stab wound making her double over in pain and ran straight into the portal. when Bellamy and Octavia moved to help Clarke.

However, before they could reach Clarke she got up. And the very next moment, she was gone too. She followed Jordan and, very much on his heels, stepped in. They called out to her but she did not stop.

Shaking his head, Bellamy turned to the others, "Stay here. Make a plan. _Then_, find us", he rapidly instructed, not waiting to hear their disagreements, if there were any.

...

Clarke entered the other side to find herself in a dusty clearing similar to the one from where she'd escaped with Octavia and Diyoza. Instinct told her that this realm was all dusty clearings and shady bunkers; no doubt Cage was so desperate to get out. She tried to catch up to Jordan but failed, the emptiness within her becoming nauseous.

"Jordan, stop", Bellamy called out and Clarke turned to see him merely a few paces behind her now. She would've asked him what had made him follow her in but something told her that that would be a futile effort.

However, to her surprise, Jordan did stop. He turned towards them, his eyes bloodshot and face bearing a ferocity which she could simply not associate with him. "What do you people want?", he demanded, all his frustration cached into those words, "Why won't you let me do the right thing for once"! Only Clarke turned and noticed as the portal snapped shut behind her.

"What right thing", Bellamy demanded angrily.

"I will bring forth the true leader", Jordan answered detachedly.

Bellamy glared at him for a second, "Cage Wallace?", he asked, not believing his ears.

"Yes, Cage Wallace', answered Jordan.

"Yes, Cage Wallace', someone repeated from a distance. "Bellamy Blake and... Clarke Griffin", Cage smiled widely as he stepped forward, flanked by a dozen of his reapers, "You're being troublesome again", he mocked as reapers advanced on them.

From the corner of her eye, Clarke saw Bellamy's hand reach into his pocket. A reaper saw it too. But before he could reach them, Bellamy took out a long syringe from his pocket and shoved it into Jordan's jugular.

...

"So, a paralytic, huh?", Cage asked conversationally as he burst into the room where Bellamy and Clarke were being held. "Nice try, I'll say. Not nice enough though", he informed a glaring Bellamy. "It'll wear out in a bunch of hours, I'll just make the switch then. Till then", he started pacing around, coming to a halt in front of Clarke, "let's figure out when and how to kill you two". As they did not respond in the slightest, he egged on, "Maybe we could catch up first. So, Clarke, tell me what you've been up to since having irradiated my people all those eons ago. Committed anymore genocides since then?"

Although she knew that his intention was to provoke her, she could not exactly ignore the sharp pain she felt by that reminder of Mount Weather. She also felt, to her surprise and for the first time, a rage built up within her. No, she soon realised, it wasn't rage at herself, it might not be rage at all. But something was building up. She trembled slightly.

"Shut up", beside her, Bellamy sounded angry beyond measure.

"You people are never much for politeness and manners, are you", Cage looked wickedly amused. "But why won't she talk", Cage pointed a finger at Clarke, "Time-work taking its toll on you?", she felt the tiniest sense of alarm on hearing those words, but it soon subsided as he said, "yeah, getting those objects to make portals for you is tricky business. I've lost good men on that job".

Bellamy and Clarke exchange a look of relief as Cage turned his back on them, both glad that he wasn't yet aware that Clarke was herself a time-worker, both silently pleading the other to keep their mouth shut.

"You know _what_": Cage abruptly turned back around, "I'll do the procedure here. Yes", he exclaimed, as if admiring himself for having had a great idea, "You two can watch me acquire a corporal form, Clarke can get me a portal and then I'll kill you guys. Perfect", he stood there, smiling widely.

"You think I'll make you an entryway into my world", Clarke asked incredulously.

"Oh. I'm sure you will. You wanna know how? Watch", said Cage before hitting a button on a remote control.

Clarke watched Bellamy grunt and bend down in pain as shock waves from the handcuffs hit his wrists. "Bellamy", Clarke lunged as far as she could. Thankfully, he was near enough for her to get a hold of him and straighten him up.

"You bastard", she barked at Cage, as her sensation of emptiness intensified.

"Oh, I'm sorry. You must be feeling left out. Here you go".

"No", exclaimed Bellamy as Cage pressed another button. This time however, he pressed for a longer duration, long enough for Clarke's emptiness to wrap its hand around her. She knew that she was losing her grip on consciousness and that this emptiness had spread too far and too deeply within her. She knew that she had to let it take over. Because the emptiness was a germinating shell, a safe haven for that which was building within her. And so, as Bellamy cradled her head in his lap, she squeezed his hand in a final attempt at reassurance before his face and Cage's departing form all blurred into one all-encompassing nothingness.

[INTERLUDE]

"That was... surreal", Clarke said conclusively, once she settled herself against the wall, having regained consciousness with a feeling of nothing more than a complete, long sleep.

"Surreal? In fifteen minutes?", Bellamy asked, finding her choice of words rather amusing. Seeing her nod in response, he too sat back leaning on the stone wall beside her.

"I feel fresh, strong really", Clarke told him, omitting the part about her state before the passing out.

"Well, that makes one of us", Bellamy said hoarsely. She looked up at him and a tightness clutched her heart, for she saw in his face, a whole army's share of fatigue and weariness.

"Why did you follow me?" she asked him sadly, her old pal guilt now staring her in the face.

"Not this", he replied tiredly, literally rolling his eyes at her. "You're actually gonna ask this".

"Yes!", she cried. "You could've stayed back and waited. I was gonna...", she felt at a loss of words.

"You were gonna what? Pass out following Jordan? Let him stab you again?", he listed down the possibilities, surprisingly devoid of anger. "I was observing you, Clarke. Yama was right in guessing that you were out of _it_", he said, checking himself. He added, in a lower voice, "You know, you always do this. You take the weight of the world on your shoulders and go on thinking that you must bear it alone. Every damn time, I've to convince you from scratch that i wanna help with that. Why do you think that is?" He asked, feigning curiosity.

"Damned if I know", she answered, irritated slightly.

"Take an educated guess", he insisted but she only shrugged. "Fine, lets tweak the question a little. Why did you not want me to follow you here?"

Clarke's head snapped up. She had the perfect, logical explanation to that; she was the time-worker and thus better equipped to move through temporal folds and thus it made no sense for him to jump in and increase the risk factor for the both of them. What she ended up saying, however, was "Because, I left you in the pits". She wanted to look down but somehow could not tear her gaze away from his.

"And, we're gonna let that go when exactly?", Bellamy demanded. When she finally looked away, he added, "I endangered Madi and made you choose between her and me".

"You were trying to protect..."

"See now that's the point. Both of us thought we were trying to protect people we love. Both of us took what seemed to us as the _only choice_", he smiled briefly. "As long as you don't get it, you're not turning the page. And you may be able to help and save everyone else, but you won't save yourself", he said sadly. "So, Clarke", he waited till she looked at him, "please save yourself. Giving up on yourself is not an option".

She nodded solemnly. Then, smiling a little, she added, "Now that sounds like my only choice".

"Glad we got that cleared out. So, Jordan?", he initiated.

"Oh, he should be out for at least a couple of hours. Good thinking, with the paralytic. When the hell..."?

"I nicked one when you were unconscious", he explained, scratching his brow nervously. "All those stabbings were giving me panic attacks", he explained.

"Right. I do hate that paralytic though", she confessed, remembering the Lightbournes' faces, hovering greedily over her helpless form.

"I know", Bellamy lay a comforting hand on her shoulder. "My own experience with it was quite terrifying", he readily admitted. "Were you able to see that too?", he asked unsurely.

"No", she answered. And so, he told her. How he'd figured out that it was not her but Josephine, the horror of finding out that she was dead, the pain of not having been able to save her.

"That is why, Clarke, I need you to live. I can't keep going through this", he finally concluded.

"I get that now", she said softly, "I'll make it. I promise". They had been sitting silently for a while when Clarke finally spoke, "But still hate paralytics. Two bad experiences are more than enough for a lifetime".

"Excuse me, two?", he enquired.

"Yeah. First time was when you guys were in space. I was out gathering fruits and such and there was this new variety of nuts", he uttered a humourless laugh, "or legumes. I still have no idea what it was, but the next day I burnt that patch. Hell, Madi was asleep on a hungry stomach when I returned". Clarke recollected the incident as something buried deep in memory. With so much happening, the smaller stuff tended to get pushed back.

"So, you outran Praimfaya. Crossed the dead zone more times than anyone alive. Survived a paralytic attack without an antidote..."

"That was sheer luck", Clarke interrupted, but Bellamy went on.

"What other unbelievable stuff did you do that you never told anyone about", he asked, fascinated.

"So much", she replied, for once foregoing modesty. "And, I didn't tell simply because no one asked".

"Fair enough. Tell you what, when this is all over, we'll all just sit around a fire and tell all our stories. What say?"

"Sounds like a plan", she nudged his shoulder. "But first, we need a plan to get out of here. With Jordan", she declared decisively.

[END OF INTERLUDE]

Twenty minutes later, Bellamy was kicking the steel door every ten seconds . "Open up, you cowards. I will kill you all". He was in the middle of a similar tirade when the door burst open and a reaper walked in. Bellamy launched himself at it. After a very short struggle, the reaper left Bellamy crouching on the floor, his hand balled up beneath him.

"Are you okay?", Clarke got up from where she was pretending to still be unconscious and helped him rise.

He nodded weakly. "Here's your sharp object", he said, handing her a blade that he had nicked from the reaper. "Now what? You certainly don't need it to try to cut through these cuffs, right?", he confirmed jokingly.

"Well, no, genius", she pocketed the blade. "I'll need it to summon the anomaly".

"To what the anomaly", he asked disbelievingly.

"All in good time, Bellamy. For now, we wait. Jordan has to be here before we try to make an escape". All through her speech, Bellamy Blake marvelled at the absurdness that was his best friend. When he tried to ask her about the cuffs she told him they weren't even a concern.

...

When they finally brought him over, he'd regained consciousness. In fact, he was on his feet. It was, Clarke noted sorrowfully, almost as if he was volunteering. Except that he wasn't, being very much intoxicated and brainwashed.

"Well, heartwarming much", Cage stopped in front of Bellamy whose gaze was fixed at Jordan.

"Look", Clarke began angrily. Then, seemingly calming herself down, she said, "You're gonna kill us. At least give us a fair fighting chance".

"You just don't give up, do you?", Cage looked at her through narrowed eyes. "Let's hear your deal this time".

"There's not much of a deal. I just wanna talk to him for five minutes. In return, I'll... open a portal for you".

"Fine", she knew he'd agree. She was counting on his hubris for that. He was too sure that Jordan couldn't be coaxed away from his agenda and who could fault him for thinking thus. She herself did not think that five minutes would change his mind. But that was not what she needed those five minutes for.

As soon as the door closed, she took out the hidden blade. Jordan moved to shout but Bellamy caught him between his cuffed hands and muffled his shrieks. The very next moment, Clarke cut a line across her forearm and black blood started gushing out.

"What are you...", he began.

"Its okay. I got this", she assured him while she squeezed the wound to pour her blood all over the floor. Sooner than the previous time, the ringing began. Clarke moved closer to Bellamy and gripped his arm. The following moments were dizzying and nauseating in a way that even space travel hadn't been.


	9. Chapter 9

Chapter 9

Bellamy walked around the Sanctum premises, trying to look composed and casual, feelings that he'd last felt at the age of 21 and never since.

After having seemingly fallen out of a portal in a tree, they regrouped with the rest at Yama's lab and certain facts were established. First, that Clarke was strong again. Yama didn't know how but she, along with Raven pronounced it the best course of action to monitor Clarke constantly. Second, that Cage now probably knew that Clarke was a time-worker herself. Their third and final conclusion was that Jordan's cure could be obtained from the source of his ailments only (i.e., the Sanctum guy who drugged him in the first place), as Gabriel's antitoxin proved only partially helpful. It was thus decided that they would all fall back within the relative safety of Sanctum.

And so, here he was. He had lingered around as Yama and Raven oversaw Clarke's training. He had worried that there'd be more anomaly-summoning through bloody cuts or portal simulations but when it came down to it, they only made her do physical (and mental) workouts to "vent out the extra energy". That was all they could do to help, they claimed and it both relieved and aggravated him. He took consolation from the fact however that Yama had begun to train Murphy as well. Clarke had guessed rightly about his possessing dormant catalyst abilities like Yama, due to the near death experience he owed Bellamy for.

At last, O had pulled him aside and forced him to take a break. "You're not the only person who cares about her, you know", she had exclaimed in a fairly low but irritated voice when he wouldn't stop being stubborn.

"Sometimes it feels like that", he retaliated obstinately.

"Well, then I suggest that you get over yourself. You know", she spoke with some effort, "i may not always show it but I care too".

That genuinely caught him unawares, "you do?"

She nodded lightly. "She seems to understand even when no one can, forgive when no one else does", she said through a breaking voice.

"That she does. And yet how many here understand and forgive her even half as readily?", he demanded with obvious displeasure.

"You do", O promptly replied. "You even got why she left you to die. That is what she needs. That is what we need, as a community. And so", she smiled widely, "I'm with you in it. I'm gonna look out for her, big brother", she had promised emphatically, making him listen and adhere.

He had even felt a sense of relief when she'd said that. It was a rare feeling for him, which may be why he did not appreciate the alarm he experienced when a giant pink fog started to expand into a dome in the Sanctum sky.

"What the hell", he heard Echo wonder behind him as more and more people started to take notice. He was feeling a sense of suffocation which, he was pretty sure, was a universal side effect of the pink dome.

"Everyone inside", he quickly commanded, acting more on instinct than knowledge.

As he guided people inwards, a ripple went through the dome and it was pushed momentarily backwards. Bellamy turned expecting Clarke to be the one making it happen, but it wasn't her. Instead, Murphy clutched at a couple of glass flasks, his eyes shut in great concentrated effort.

"Can you hold it on?" Bellamy asked Murphy from a distance.

"Just long enough for you to call Clarke", he informed through gritted teeth.

"Right, already sent for her", he replied, backing up some more. Looking around, he noted with relief, that almost everyone was inside. "Echo get in", he shouted. "I'm right behind you", he assured as she hesitated. He could tell that Murphy's hold was slipping. "John", Emori said sympathetically from where Echo was almost dragging her inside. "He's ok", he heard Echo try to reassure her.

And then, for a second it felt like the sky would fall on him and Murphy, now the only people outside when suddenly, a supposed push in the center of the pink dome made it split like bursting fireworks into three smaller fragments. Soon, he saw Clarke descend the steps of the main compound to join them in the center of the courtyard, Yama close by on her heels.

"Get in. Now", she instructed as she continued to exert her force on the pink fragments. Bellamy complied quickly, knowing that the couldn't help but might get in the way.

From his new station at the threshold of the closed glass doors, he could see and somewhat hear the three of them as they shot blow after blow at the shattered dome, now three thin stripes, slowly diminishing.

"Get out of my line, Murphy", he heard Clarke command angrily.

"Trying, can't", Murphy sounded as if he was exerting hard on something. "Ow", he then exclaimed with pain and kneeled on the ground. Emori moved forward to reach him but Echo stopped her. "Its ok, they won't let him get hurt. Much", she assured her as best as she could. "We could worsen things by going out there".

That's when they heard him.

"Let me go", Jordan yelled from where Miller and Jackson were holding him down.

"Jordan, please relax", Madi pleaded, wiping his tears with her palm.

"Madi, you don't understand. He wants me. He won't stop till he has me. I started this and i have to end it. My father would be ashamed", his voice was the very manifestation of heartbreak as he declared that.

"Listen to me. You did not start that", Bellamy heard Madi insist as he turned away from the scene. "This was going on long before we came along. We just happened to get involved", her means and manner of reasoning made her sound like a miniature version of Clarke.

"Argh", Clarke grunted out in pain and Bellamy deliberated unsurely what he could do when O pushed past him.

"Clarke", she opened the glass door and tossed her a metallic cane of sorts.

Clarke breathed out in relief, instantly catching it. Then, sighing once, she gripped tightly on the cane and squeezed it hard until the metal began to crumble.

And with that the pink slips crumbled too. They folded and convulsed until they were three tiny dots that fell out of the sky and burnt away before they could hit the ground. All that was left behind were two panting people and one woman standing tall between them.

"Catalyst object for her to draw from. Took forever to find one", O explained. Told you i'd look out for her", she beamed at him. He was just about to thank her and commend her on a job well done when, looking over her back, he saw Clarke collapse, her sudden fall downwards stopped at the last moment by Murphy and Yama.

...

"We should give her something", Raven repeated for the second time in ten minutes, as Clarke again lay unconscious on a bed in an overcrowded room.

"Like what? We don't know what's happened to her. Anything we give her may make things worse. We must wait", Yama said pragmatically.

"What if she's not even in there? What if she's in some other fold, trapped and unable...", Raven proposed frantically, listing down the various possibilities in which she could die.

"She will find a way to save herself", Bellamy said finally and Raven turned to respond but, meeting his gaze, her words died in her mouth.

...

When ultimately she did wake, Clarke Griffin was a thoroughly infuriated person. "This madness has to stop", she declared, looking at everyone in turns.

"You read my mind", Bellamy spoke in a low voice as she sat up.

"Sure, lead the way", Yama told her. "Did you maybe wake up with a plan, Wanheda?", she prodded softly. The Blakes glared at her, indicating their distaste for that ominous title.

"Well, no, not really", Clarke replied, lost in thought, adding more emphatically, "I woke up with exhaustion and frustration". In response to the enquiring looks that followed, she explained, "that last ripping tear in the dome? I made that shot about fifty times! Now everything hurts".

Everyone looked confused. "You just did that once", Murphy voiced their collective perplexity from his chair near the window.

"No", Clarke insisted, looking around for confirmation. Heads nodded in agreement with Murphy. "What the hell", Clarke demanded looking at Yama, somewhat subdued in terms of anger but more agitated as far as her inquisitiveness was concerned.

"Don't know exactly but you seemed to have gotten stuck in some kind of loop", Yama offered, for once looking utterly unconfident.

"This is getting out of hand", O said matter of factly.

"I agree", mumbled Clarke. "We better get this over quickly, then. I'm done sitting around waiting to be ambushed. Cage Wallace needs to be eliminated from our lives again and soon", she declared with her trademark decisive authority.

"And how do you wanna do that", Bellamy asked, knowing well that something resembling a plan was forming up in her perpetually running mind.

"By taking the fight to him", she told him, firmly holding his gaze.

And he knew there was no talking her out of that from there onwards.


	10. Chapter 10

Chapter 10

The plan they'd finalised was the product of multiple brainstormings and several absurd experiments most of which ended in failures of various degrees of miserable.

It was ultimately agreed that Clarke would travel back to Cage's side of the temporal fold. The idea was to bait cage into a final confrontation. When it came to picking a bait, they had a ready option; it only seemed fair that the guy who had drugged Jordan now actually step in his shoes. Should their attempt fail, it would at least not be Jordan's body that Cage would be usurping. With regard to Cage, they soon concluded that he couldn't possibly be killed by physical means in his astral form.

The point of the confrontation then was to isolate Cage from his reaper army to maximise the impact of the blow that would bring the realm crashing down on him while Murphy and Yama maintained a hold on Clarke from their side. On having tested the act, they found a 90% possibility of the tether working flawlessly. Although Madi and Bellamy had their own, loudly voiced, reservations about the plan, they both finally agreed to allow its execution on the condition that Bellamy would accompany Clarke.

It wasn't just Bellamy who had learnt to read Clarke. She too could tell when it would be futile to try to dissuade him from something. "Fine", she said on hearing his suggestion. Then, in a lower voice, she added, "together".

...

Bellamy paced around anxiously in front of a line of trees as the time-workers prepped for take-off, or so Murphy put it.

"Hey", O walked up to him and handed him a syringe. "Mr. Bait has been sufficiently drugged, according to Jackson. Here's an extra shot, just in case". Their eyes met and both saw in the other's the same uncertainty and fear that plagued them.

"It'll be fine", Bellamy thought it only natural that he comfort his little sister.

"Yup. I hope she brings the skies down right on his head", O talked casually. "When she does, keep a hold on her. You don't wanna be left behind in that place", she instructed.

"She wouldn't leave me", Bellamy said confidently and O nodded in agreement.

"And this is for your plan B", she produced a gun from her back pocket.

The fall back plan was to shoot Cage in his newly acquired corporal form, should it actually cone to that. "I've got a gun of my own".

"Take it as a lucky charm", O insisted with a sardonic smile.

"A gun for a lucky charm? Very Bloodreina, don't you think?", Bellamy asked sarcastically, knowing that O wouldn't take it otherwise.

"Hey, Bloodreina may've become a bit of a tyrant by the end but she was bloody good at surviving and getting people to survive. I think that is what you need right now, isn't it?", she challengingly arched an eyebrow at him.

"Ok, good point", he said as Diyoza called out to them.

"Everything is prepared. You be ready with your weapon if she fails", Diyoza pointed to Clarke who was rapidly talking at Murphy and Yama, "We'll be ready with ours in case both of you fail".

"Thank you for the pep talk", Bellamy said, coming to a halt next to Clarke, "Ready?", he checked. She merely offered her arm in response and he secured his hold on it.

...

"Go tell _President_ Wallace that we offer him a deal", Bellamy yelled in the face of the reaper whose kneecaps he'd just blown away. "If he wants to hear it, he comes here alone. Or else, we've got something to leave him without this ferocious army of his". The last part was a bluff but he made it sound real. They knew that he was anyway not going to come alone. Some reapers would have to be dealt with in any case.

And Cage brought a bunch. Luckily, they didn't try to grab at Clarke and Bellamy the moment they arrived. They simply stood there awaiting orders.

"The only reason you're not in shackles is because I'm very curious", he clarified right away. "Clarke, you're one secretive person. Why did you not tell that you were yourself a catalyst object. Oops, I meant person".

"No, you meant object", Clarke said neutrally, looking almost bored. "Everyone is an object for you, to best use to your own advantage. So, we have a deal that may also be to your advantage".

"Like I said, I'm curious and all ears", Cage propelled her on, hands folded behind his back. That pose made him resemble his father, Bellamy noted.

"We brought you someone you can use as a medium. And we'll let you come over to our side of the fold", announced Clarke, waiting for his reaction.

"Conditions apply?", he asked.

"Of course. First that you'll come alone. None of these mutilated zombies. Second, that you'll not try to take revenge on us for Mount Weather or harm anyone in any way. And third, you will refrain from any kind of human experimentation, as is an ardent hobby of yours", she stated factually.

"Hmmm. Those are generally reasonable terms", he said after some apparent deliberation, "But what will you do if I refuse and simply take you two prisoners and use the medium anyway. I bet my reapers could get me one last portal with whatever catalyst objects we do have. Otherwise, we certainly have you", he pointed at Clarke. Bellamy checked his temper.

"Did you not get to hear the part where we said your army was gonna be useless. Go on then, tell them to march on us", Clarke prompted. Bellamy was going to suggest to her that maybe she was blowing the whole bluff thing a bit too out of proportion but it was too late. Cage had taken the suggestion and given the order.

What even Bellamy hadn't seen coming was that there was no one coming. The reapers ran and ran but seemed stuck on the same spot across from them. Cage gaped on, frowning in frustration and disbelieve.

"You can tell them to stop", Clarke suggested. "They aren't even on this fold anymore. It would take centuries to get here on foot". Through the corner of his eye, Bellamy saw the tiniest of pins sticking out of Clarke's index finger. Peculiarly, red not black blood flew from the puncture wound as she held the pin in place using her thumb.

"Fine, I'm taking your deal", Cage declared tiredly. "I'll get the stuff", he said and left.

"Where did you send them", Bellamy asked in a low voice, still wary of the bait-man.

"Oh, they're right here", Clarke let her exertion show in her voice. "I trapped them in temporal walls. Think of it as running in a cartwheel with its sides closed", she explained briefly before Cage returned with a syringe and two vials. "We just need him in a 10m range", Clarke informed in a last whisper as Cage advanced.

Bellamy made the man, Jim was his name, lie down on the level ground, keeping the charade up.

"I'll need you two to step back a little. Don't trust you enough to be standing over my head", Cage declared and Bellamy felt a twisting in his stomach at the first sign of threat to their plan. Clarke nodded at him and they complied.

Adapting to the change, they let the procedure start before Clarke slowly started advancing forward. It wasn't as long a procedure as they'd thought. Cage was almost corporal and Clarke still had a good 15m to make it in range. Bellamy gripped the handle of his gun. But Clarke had begun to take longer steps as Cage paid little to no attention towards them. Contrary to their expectations, it was Jim's form that was fading as Cage's gained a body resembling his own.

Just when Clarke reached in acting distance, two things happened simultaneously; Cage's morphosis was completed and the cartwheel holding the reapers broke. They advanced forward as Cage rose and caught Clarke by the throat. Bellamy rushed forward, shooting at Cage as the world around him began to spin. Seconds felt like minutes. He knew that Clarke was doing something but couldn't tell what.

The reapers were far, they weren't an immediate concern. The bullet he had landed in Cage got his hand away from Clarke's throat long enough for her to take out a knife from her back-pocket and aim for the guts.

What were the consequences of that shot, they couldn't see. A piercing noise and a multitude of blue-green lights had forced Bellamy to lunge blindly for Clarke and pull her towards himself. When he finally opened his eyes, they were on the forest floor on their side of the fold.

"What...", he asked hoarsely as he saw Clarke looking at him with a smile, looking quite dishevelled. Looking around, he saw that everyone looked as clueless as himself. Everyone except Clarke.

"You won't believe what I did", she told him as he turned to her, a content smile still lingering on her face.

...

"This is so awesome", Raven exclaimed as Clarke reclined farther into her bed in what was now called the Clarke Emergency Room in the New Sanctum premises. "Let me just say it in a single breath for the record", Clarke merely nodded.

"You trapped Cage Wallace in a _time loop_ of his _newly acquired corporal form_ being _stabbed_ to _death_", she summarised gleefully.

"You keep outdoing yourself, Clarke", Murphy chimed, making Bellamy tense momentarily in fear that his next words may be a reprimand of some sort as was the pattern with these two. So, he was relieved when all he said was "Good job".

"Are you still holding it? The loop?", Yama asked.

Clarke nodded, "I can't decide when to let go. So far, he deserves it".

"What happens if you let go", O asked with concern.

"He dies", Clarke said definitively, "I'm sure, 102%, he'll bleed to death".

"Then, let go", Bellamy shrugged.

"Sure?", she asked, holding his gaze.

"Now", he confirmed. And so she did, feeling a heavy weight slide off her body and mind.

"Nicely done, Wanheda. You may as well be the Commander of Death if not the Destroyer of Worlds", insisted Yama. "I see no shame in it. Never did, frankly".

"Which reminds me", Bellamy hastily cut in, letting the death-heavy titles slide out of thought, "weren't you gonna tell us who you were?"

She shrugged, "I said maybe. That was hardly a blood sealed vow". She turned to leave.

"Roan?", Clarke called paused and turned.

"What gave me away", she... he asked admittedly.

"We seal our vows in blood", Clarke quoted him, exactly mimicking his tone.

"Well played, Wanheda", Roan conceded as everyone around him took in this startling fact. Ultimately they all dispersed, leaving the Blakes on Clarke duty as she recovered from the after-effects of yet another salvaging of the world.


End file.
